THE RISE OF THE NEW ARAB NATION 



iO 



to be unsuited for anything except graz- 

 ing ; and moisture is so scant that even 

 many of the grazing areas fail from time 

 to time, and the Arabs have to move their 

 herds from place to place, or all would 

 perish. It is this constant quest for grass 

 and water which so often causes friction 

 and fighting among the roving tribes. 



Then, too, living this free, open life, 

 so remote from law courts and police, 

 through so many generations, has made 

 the Arabs a bold, defiant, headstrong peo- 

 ple, not easily ruled and impatient of re- 

 straint. They are familiar with only one 

 quick way to settle a dispute — to fight. 



Although Bedouin and bandit are al- 

 most synonymous terms in some parts of 

 Arabia, this is hardly fair to the Bedouins 

 when we consider the way they have to 

 live. When they hold up a Mecca cara- 

 van, for example, and exact a sum in 

 cash for "protection," they look on this 

 merely as their rightful share of taxes, 

 habitually collected and kept by border 

 officials. A reform of these desert man- 

 ners and methods will most probably en- 

 sue as a result of the British mandate 

 over Arabia. 



Although nominally a Mohammedan, 

 the average Bedouin is said to worry but 

 little about the Koran's rules or whether 

 his mode of living would please the 

 Prophet. The wilder tribes even worship 

 the sun, trees, rocks, etc., or else have no 

 religion at all, it is said. Marriage is 

 early and easy and divorce simple and 

 frequent. (For a description of Arab 

 life and habits see the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine for December, 1914.) 



THE ARISTOCRACY OE ARABIA 



About 80 per cent of all Arabs live in 

 towns, A r illages, or other fixed places of 

 abode and belong to the "Hadr" class. 

 In this group is found the aristocracy of 

 Arabia. Here are old, reputable families, 

 with records of births, deaths and mar- 

 riages, deeds and honors, running back 

 through generations. 



Perhaps the most noted family in mod- 

 ern Arabia is the house of Koreyeh, trac- 

 ing its connections back to the Prophet. 

 The men of this family bear the title of 

 Shereef or Seyd ; and it was the Shereef 

 of Mecca who led Arabia's break for 

 statehood. 



Photograph from Frederick Simpich 



AN ARAB GATEWAY TO OLD MASK AT 



In the sixteenth century Albuquerque cap- 

 tured this port and capital of Oman for the 

 Portuguese, who held it for a century and a 

 half. The woven stuffs of the city are famous 

 in the Near East. The pointed arch, common 

 in Arab structures, is an emblem of the Mo- 

 hammedan faith and is considered stronger 

 than the semicircular arch, whose keystone 

 has a tendency to drop. In India this archi- 

 tectural feature is called "the arch that never 

 sleeps." 



Education, however, as we regard it in 

 America, is almost unknown among Ara- 

 bians. The few with culture are a class 

 to themselves. Most learning is confined 

 to the classics of religious and secular 

 literature ; the Koran is learned by rote. 

 In the smaller towns there are no schools 

 at all. 



Vet it was Arab learning and skill, in 

 the long ago, which started the civilized 

 world on the way to its present high 

 efficiency. Under the Caliphs, schools of 

 therapeutics were set up at Bagdad, and 

 botany was studied as a branch of medi- 

 cine. As one writer says, "The principal 



